Looking for Inauguration rentals? Try Florida

January 13, 5:58 PMDC Republican ExaminerBill Dupray

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                    Where would you rather be?
(Photo credit Sonny Side Up)

Washington, DC property owners had high hopes of making a killing renting out their homes to some of the millions of folks (though the estimates have shrunk from 5 million to one million) who were coming to the Nation's Capital to see The Messiah ascend to the White House.

Turns out that was a bust. The Democrats, who delight in spending other peoples' money, don't like the idea of spending their own. And more than 90% of the rentals remain vacant. Maybe they gave all their money to Obama during the campaign.

The folks with the hot rentals are renting to those folks who want to escape the zoo that DC is about to become. We already know that a lot of Republicans are getting out of Dodge. After all, their guy lost. No parties for the GOP this year. So they are heading for the mountains and the beaches for nice, little winter getaways.

Hotels and lodges in North Florida hope to draw tourists from Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., looking to get out of town before the inauguration of President-elect Obama Jan. 20.

Former D.C. natives Shannon and Bob Tidball said they are offering up their Amelia Island bed and breakfast as the ultimate vacation from the inauguration.

"It's going to be as nonpolitical as possible," said Bob Tidball. "People want to get away from it. We don't want to stuff it down their throats."

Millions of people will be in the nation's capital to witness Obama's historic swearing-in, but many said they want to avoid the crowds. . . .

When they do skip town, a group of Florida hotels want to cash in, offering 20 to 50 percent off the price of accommodations for people from Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. . . .

Reservations for the posh resort have been going fast. The 20 percent off already reduced rates has people trading in the red, white and blue for the greens of the golf course.

If you had a choice to stand in the cold for 12 hours with a million or so strangers, eating hot dogs from a roach coach and using a porta-john or sitting by the pool with a margarita in sunny Orlando, it really isn't a close call, is it?

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